Backwards Looking Forwards 2011 - Bad Sports, AIDS Wolf, Acid Baby Jesus

OK, so here are three more releases that I "discovered" over my two-month sabbatical that, whilst not anything overly groundbreaking, were a hell of a lot of fun.


Bad Sports, on their 2nd LP Kings Of The Weekend, have chiseled out some major disaffected pop rock that'll tear holes in the seat of your jeans. The Denton, Texas trio are made for summer benders with a sleazy bent. Dirtnap Records put out this fun-loving, fuzzy gem, and it reverently does what it says on the tin. I guess there are elements of Bare Wires about Bad Sports, albeit with more protopunk snarl, which makes me like these guys all the more.

Bad Sports - Can't Just Be Friends


Richie Follin's sister Madeline of Cults' fame will be here on Saturday as a part of the Laneway festival, so it would be remiss of me to mention Guards' Do It Again 7" that came out in December that I found quite delectable. Put out by White Iris, these tracks cement two facts - that Richie Follin knows how to pen a heck of a hook, and that they need to bring out their debut album STAT.

Guards - Do It Again


There was a stage when I seemed to be listening to a lot of Athens, Georgia acts back in 2010 - kickstarted probably by my love of Tunabunny - and it's more than possible that Acid Baby Jesus is going to bring that love full circle. Yet these clowns are from the "other" Athens - the one that proclaims to be the capital of Greece, the starting point (and possibly the endpoint - oh, political controversy!!) of civilisation as we know it. Their self-titled debut came out in October last year on Slovenly Recordings, and it sounds like another 2011 fave of mine, Human Eye, in its insistence of sounding like psych punk played by Ming The Merciless off Flash Gordon. Such space jams are morbid and strange, and oh so goddamn rad. This is a pretty killer album, and may have made the top 40 of 2011 if I'd heard it sooner. 2012 also has them firing up to join the biggest and best lineup yet for the Austin Psych Fest. Live long and prosper, you awesome weirdos.

Acid Baby Jesus - Tooth To Toe

Bare Wires Stay Cheap, Smell Golden

Those slackers Bare Wires have pumped out their third album, aptly titled Cheap Perfume, and it shows a continuation down the road of sleazy dispropriety. There is nothing new here, either by Bare Wires' standards nor by the standards of musical history. These dudes do what they do, when they want to do it. The more I listen to this, the more I enjoy the easy shambolism, the heady heavy-lidded promiscuity, the abject fun of it all. Don't talk to me about a revolution - if its as full of charismatic malaise as this, I don't have a problem with that at all.

Bare Wires - Cheap Perfume
Bare Wires - Dirt Beach

Idolising a Waxen Future

Awesomeness abounds when throwing on this 7" (through the inimitable HoZaC) by SF punks Wax Idols. These formidable female-fronted pop wonders are not who you may already believe or expect. Led by the ex-Hunx & His Punx (meh), Bare Wires (rad) and member of CastleFace Records' Blasted Canyons (awesome) Heather Fedewa (aka Hether Fortune), Wax Idols "straddle the line between ripping tough/tender post-punk/goth-pop, and irresistibly anthemic indie rock hooks, somewhat like Joan Jett would sound like tearing through Best Coast with a chainsaw." Note the quotations? Not my comment. But Hozac press dude, I agree entirely. There is something wholly enthralling by seeing women take back punk from the faux-rockers, yet infuse it with a narcotically addictive sense of melody. These girls have it in spades. No Future is the LP - but it's a misnomer when you consider what these girls might be capable of.



No Future is available here - its well worth the purchase, let me tell you! Also, check out Fortune's band-led tumblr site here, its pretty ace.




Wax Idols - Dead Like You
Wax Idols - Gold Sneakers